The Trinity

About the Artwork

This vividly colored altarpiece was made in Antwerp, the center of religious learning in Catholic Flanders. In the mid-1500s when the Catholic Church mounted a defense against the spread of Protestant reforms, known as the Counter-Reformation, it encouraged the production of religious images that promoted Catholic doctrine, offering opportunities for artists like Rubens, Van Dyck, and Van Balen. Van Balen’s painting depicts the traditional theme of the Trinity, with God the Father holding the dead Christ and the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above. Unusually, God wears the purple papal tiara, intended to emphasize the pope’s role as God’s true representative on earth. Encircling the figures of the Trinity are angels holding the instruments of Christ’s Passion. On the clasp of God’s elaborate cape is a small figure of Saint Barbara, perhaps a clue to the original location of the work in a chapel dedicated to her.

Inscriptions

signed lower left: H.V. Balen

Provenance

1996-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio 1996: (Konrad O. Bernheimer, Munich, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996) 1993-1996: (Alex Wengraf, London, sold to Konrad O. Bernheimer) After 1984-1993: Private collection, Spain, consigned to Alex Wengraf By 1984-: (Alex Wengraf, London, sold to a Spanish collector) 1980: (Sale, Sotheby’s, London, April 16, 1980, no. 184, withdrawn) 1979: (Sale, Sotheby's, London, July 11, 1979, no. 37, bought in)

Quick Overview

Artist: Hendrik van Balen (Flemish, 1575–1632)
Date: c. 1620
Medium: oil on wood
Dimensions: Framed: 134 x 107 x 7 cm (52 3/4 x 42 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 114.6 x 73.9 cm (45 1/8 x 29 1/8 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession no.: 1996.26

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.